I Am The Swarm

Godzilla’s body weighed an astonishing 100,000 tons. Such immense weight would be nearly impossible to support, even if its bones were made of superalloys. To manage this, it employed electromagnetic fields to support and restrain its body, preventing it from being crushed under its own weight.

Even with this assistance, Godzilla’s movement was extremely challenging. Thus, it utilized another unique ability, one that took Luo Wen over a year to fully decipher.

This ability allowed Godzilla to swim rapidly in water and even move on land. When Luo Wen first encountered it, his limited understanding led him to believe it was merely a pseudo-anti-gravity technology based on magnetic fields, similar to the beetles on the Genesis Planet.

However, as Luo Wen’s knowledge expanded and his horizons broadened, he realized it was something entirely different. Unlike the pseudo-anti-gravity technology, which worked by creating interactions between biological magnetic fields and planetary magnetic fields to cancel out portions of gravity, Godzilla’s ability represented true anti-gravity—or, more accurately, gravity manipulation.

At the time, this technology was far too advanced for Luo Wen and the Swarm. Without the foundational scientific theories to support it, they were unable to fully develop or apply it.

Luo Wen, however, understood that using such a sophisticated technology merely to offset one’s own weight was a colossal waste.

Even though the Swarm’s intelligent entities at that time were far fewer than they are now, Luo Wen assigned a significant portion of them to study the technology. Despite their efforts, progress was slow and sporadic.

The breakthrough came with the discovery of the Riken “Treasure Starship.” The ship’s primary engine was a warp drive—though it was a defective model, a false path designed to mislead emerging civilizations, it provided the Swarm with invaluable insights.

Before, the Swarm had the result but no way to calculate how it had been achieved—like knowing the answer to a complex equation but having no idea how it was solved. The data from the ship provided a formula. Even though the data provided by Cleo revealed that the result was incorrect, the formula itself was over 70% accurate.

If the formula were more flawed, it would fail to mislead emerging civilizations, but at 70% accuracy, it could still effectively confuse them.

With a partially correct formula and a correct result as a reference, the Swarm quickly identified the errors and derived a true, accurate formula.

Thus, unbeknownst to the rest of the galaxy, the Swarm had already mastered warp technology. Luo Wen, however, chose to keep this achievement hidden from the outside world. The adversaries at the time were too weak, and Luo Wen’s constant mental sparring with the Watchers encouraged him to play it cautiously, keeping his cards close to his chest.

Mastering warp technology naturally included the ability to detect it. But since the Swarm had never demonstrated this capability externally, other factions might suspect but could not confirm it.

Was this recent display by the Ji an attempt to verify whether the Swarm had warp detection capabilities? Information gleaned from the Daqi civilization hinted that some factions speculated the Swarm originated from an unknown star region and had somehow ended up here.

After all, the civilizations in this region predominantly followed mechanical development paths. A fast-growing biological civilization like the Swarm emerging out of nowhere was indeed suspicious. It was logical to hypothesize that the Swarm might possess some advanced technologies.

But how could they confirm this? Even if the Swarm detected their movements, they wouldn’t willingly reveal it. Were the Ji expecting the Swarm to announce their capabilities? That was impossible.

Alternatively, could Ji technology have methods to extract this information? The Swarm’s gravitational radar currently operated passively, collecting data rather than emitting signals. Although this method had some latency, it was sufficient during peacetime and avoided active detection risks.

Unless the Ji had technology capable of prying into passive systems, the Swarm’s true capabilities remained hidden. This led Luo Wen to another question: was this maneuver simply a calculated gamble, or did they have a specific plan to expose the Swarm’s hidden cards?

Luo Wen considered that with Observer Bugs scattered throughout Swarm territory and the Swarm Network enhancing their capabilities, latency in their monitoring systems was negligible. Since the Swarm’s observation methods were passive, the Ji race would have no way of knowing they were being monitored.

Could it be that Bular had reported the possibility that the Swarm had detected Ji monitoring devices? Did the Troi civilization then escalate this report, eventually catching the attention of the Ji race?

This was plausible. However, observing Ji monitoring devices and tracking warp bubbles, while both categorized under gravitational radar, were entirely different technologies. The gap between them was several orders of magnitude. This information alone would not be enough for the Ji to conclude that the Swarm had mastered warp technology.

The logic of this theory was tenuous. Although there was a chance it might be true, there were inconsistencies. If the Ji’s new policies benefited anyone, it would be the descendants faction of the New Ji Race, whose mindset had already shifted.

But this contradicted their earlier strategy of stalling negotiations. Why would they deliberately cultivate a potential enemy? It seemed like an illogical move unless they were irrationally reckless.

Luo Wen felt lost in the fog of speculation. Cutting off this train of thought, he decided to return to the basics.

Demonstrating military strength, creating pressure, instilling a sense of crisis in the Swarm, prompting qualitative improvements, and setting the stage for some grand destiny…

All of these required one fundamental condition: the Swarm had to be made aware of this “military strength.” This implied that the Ji likely had follow-up actions planned.

But then Luo Wen reconsidered: the Swarm had no overt conflicts with the Ji race, nor had there been any major disputes. The Swarm had just joined the Interstellar Technological Confederation and had even “submitted” researchers as required. Although fewer researchers were sent than expected, this shouldn’t be enough to provoke hostility from the Ji.

If that’s the case, could the Ji’s supposed interest in the Swarm be an illusion they intentionally created? No, that didn’t entirely add up. While some of the information came from the Troi civilization, similar intelligence had also been obtained from the Daqi civilization, and the intelligent entities responsible for analyzing it would not deceive Luo Wen.

Luo Wen delved deeper into his thoughts. Perhaps the mastermind behind all this included elements from within the Ji race itself—specifically, a smaller faction within it. After all, from the perspective of the Daqi civilization, “the Ji race” was a monolithic entity; they wouldn’t know about its internal divisions.

If this was the case, could it be the Ji opposition faction treating the Swarm as a pawn? It would make sense—they were likely suppressed within the Ji race and sought to cultivate a force capable of directly opposing their own people.

Such a force couldn’t outright surpass the Ji race, though; otherwise, even if the opposition gained power, they would still lose their relevance.

This hypothesis aligned more closely with the available evidence. However, Luo Wen would need to analyze their future actions to confirm it. Nonetheless, his thinking had become clearer, and the fog seemed to be lifting.

After the Ji ships departed with the researchers, two warships from their original escort remained behind. Their mission was to install quantum communication devices for the Swarm and the Riken and to provide training for maintenance and operation personnel.

In addition, these ships were tasked with overseeing the construction of the Trade City.

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